The following instruction is a safe way to test your computer's virus protection that doesn't require you to have a real virus. instruction: open Notepad. Then copy and paste into it the text on the line below. (It should all be on one line.) <">select File, " Save " select All Files for the file type, then save the file as eicar.com Your anti-virus software may prevent you from saving the file as eicar.com, which is a sign that it is working effectively. If it doesn't raise an alert, try scanning the folder where you saved eicar.com. To see what happens if you try to run a file containing a virus, double-click eicar.com to open it. [b]Fact:[/b] The EICAR test file is designed for users and administrators who want to check the proper operation of their anti-virus software without using actual viruses. Since it is never a good idea to test with real viruses, anti-virus researchers designed a completely harmless test file that most anti-virus products detect as if it were a virus. The EICAR test file is completely benign and contains no viral code. The most common uses for the EICAR test file are: * Confirms the anti-virus application is installed correctly * Demonstrate what happens when a virus is found * Check internal procedures and reactions when a virus is found If the anti-virus product fail to prevent you from running the file, it will simply display the text "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE" in a DOS box. No harm will have been done, but you should probably consider using a better anti-virus product, because if it had been a real virus, your computer would by now be infected!